Public not getting a true picture of Jefferson's storm debris pickup, council members say

During a two-hour meeting Thursday with representatives of the companies involved in Jefferson's storm debris cleanup, council members seemed to have more questions for the administration than the collection officials. The Parish Council heard that cleanup crews on both sides of the Mississippi River were in the middle of the second of three collection passes, after finishing the first pass on Monday and adeadline for residents to put out any remaining debris could come as soon as Sunday.

Chris Granger/The Times-PicayuneAt Thursday's storm debris meeting, Jefferson Parish Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng questions whether the parish's two contractors have the number of haulers on the street as required in their contracts.

Council members sparred with Marnie Winter, director of the Environmental Affairs department, after she said a first sweep to pick up large debris had been finished on Monday.

"To sit here and say the first pass has occurred as of Monday just isn't correct," Roberts said."If you guys buy that, that's fine, but I don't think the council buys it and I don't think residents buy that."

Council members also expressed surprise that both Ceres Environmental Services, the easts bank debris contractor, and DRC Emergency Services, the West Bank contractor, didn't have the number of trucks as required by the contract.

Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng brought up the issue of whether the companies had the proper number of trucks on the street, saying that it appeared both companies had fewer than required.

Parish Attorney Deborah Foshee said the companies had been alerted to that issue and had been urged to increase the number of trucks to avoid a possible contract default.

Virtually no council member was aware of the letter and Parish Attorney Deborah Foshee said council members should have received a copy of the letter, but did not.

"We painted a pretty picture to the public about debris pickup but they're in default, according to us, and that's not being (told)," Robert said. "Yet (Parish President John Young) goes on TV and says everything is going perfectly ... We need to be more honest with the public."

Young was out of town and not present at Thursday's meeting.

Mark Stafford, chief executive officer of DRC, said his company strongly disagrees with Foshee's analysis of the contract.

He said his contract is based on volume of debris picked up, and he made sure DRC had enough trucks to handle the expected from from a Category 1 storm.

Stafford said if he had twice as many debris haulers, based on the parish's interpretation of the contract, he would have lost a huge number of them between the first and second sweeps. The haulers are paid by the cubic yard they carry away and don't make as much money on second and third collection runs because there isn't as much debris.

"I'm not going to overcrew because this contract is misinterpreted, in my opinion," he said.

After the meeting, Winter said the numbers that show more storm debris has been picked up than in other parishes - twice as much as Orleans after 11 days - or in Jefferson from other storms, such as Hurricane Gustav in 2008 or Hurricane Cindy in 2005 are impressive.

"I think the numbers speak for themselves."

But Lee-Sheng said the comparison she is interested in is how the companies are perfoming based on the contract they signed.

"I'm not interested in Jefferson Parish compared to other parishes," she said. "I'm interested in comparing these companies to their contracts."

A press release detailing the last day for residents to put out storm debris from Hurricane Isaac is expected later today, parish officials said.